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The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic rule .
The following is an overview of the armies of First Crusade, including the armies of the European noblemen of the "Princes' Crusade", the Byzantine army, a number of Independent crusaders as well as the People's Crusade and the subsequent Crusade of 1101 and other European campaigns prior to the Second Crusade beginning in 1147.
Armies of Stephen of Blois on the First Crusade and the Crusade of 1101; Army of Godfrey of Bouillon; Army of Hugh the Great on the First Crusade; Army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles; Army of Robert Curthose on the First Crusade; Army of Robert II of Flanders on the First Crusade
The army of Raymond of Saint-Gilles was one of the first to be formed after Pope Urban II called for the First Crusade. Raymond formed a Provençal army and left his County of Toulouse in October 1096, traveling over the land route. He was the only leader of a major army that did not swear an oath of fealty to Byzantine emperor Alexius I Komnenos.
The army of the First Crusade that arrived in Asia Minor in 1097 were a type of armed pilgrimage. A prior expedition, the People's Crusade , made up of peasants and low-ranking knights arrived in Asia Minor in August 1096, but were decisively defeated by Seljuk forces a month later in October.
The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, the duke of Lower Lorraine, in response to the call by Pope Urban II to both liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and protect the Byzantine Empire from similar attacks. Godfrey and his army, [1] one of several Frankish forces deployed during the First Crusade, was among the first to arrive in Constantinople. [2]
The known members of the army, which numbered in the thousands, include the ones listed below, as reported in histories of the First Crusade and the Crusade of 1101. Unless otherwise noted, references are to the on-line database of Riley-Smith, et al, [ 3 ] [ 4 ] and the hyperlinks therein provide details including original sources.
Drogo of Nesle, formerly in the army of Emicho, Count of Flonheim; William V, Lord of Montpellier. The army of Hugh participated in numerous battles including the siege of Nicaea, the Battle of Dorylaeum, and the siege of Antioch. After Hugh's return to France, many of the knights under his command joined other Crusader armies.